


Lady of the Sun

by NYCinCordonia



Category: A Courtesan of Rome (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 16:39:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18502885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYCinCordonia/pseuds/NYCinCordonia
Summary: The international drug trafficking business is at its peak in South Beach and the Lobos Cartel continues to expand their reach, taking out its competitors one at a time. With her family’s empire left in ashes, Salomé is left with nothing but her wit to seek vengeance against the people responsible.





	Lady of the Sun

**Cartagena - August 1972**

“Promise me you will do what you must to survive!”, her father demanded, his hands gripping her shoulders.

“I can’t leave you, we must fight back!” she pleaded, sounding more like her brother, her eyes watering at the idea of leaving her family behind. 

Her mother took a trembling hand into her own, “I know it hurts,  _habibi_ , but the spirits has shown me our fates and it is not with us together. In order to live, you  _must_ die. Don’t be afraid, I know you are ready for this.” Her mother spoke calmly. She had already seen her daughter’s future, one fraught with danger and many paths eventually merging into a single one.

“I promise I will survive,” she confidently told her parents, holding back the tears. They both hugged her tightly, her mother whispering blessings upon her children. “ _Beware the wolves_ ,” her mother warned in her native tongue before finally releasing her.

“I guess this is goodbye,  _hermana_.” Her younger brother frowned, they never saw each other eye-to-to and had opposing personalities but they loved each other nonetheless. The siblings held each other for a moment, the last time they would do so.

She took one last glance back at her family before taking off, tears finally running down her cheeks. It was a necessary evil, one that was drilled into their memories for as long as they could comprehend what it meant to be part of the Cabras: fake their deaths and convince their enemies that their empire had fallen from grace. The Cabras were powerful, envied by many. They would not see or hear from each other, their safety being a priority.

Her father never shied away from the truth with his children. Her father be kingpin of the Cabras but one with an honor code. He did not believe in the ruthlessness of his contemporaries. He fed his people when they were hungry, paid for their children’s schooling, gave them homes when they needed it. “Loyalty is earned, not coerced,” her father would say. The problem was that someone’s loyalty was easily purchased by their enemies, someone they called once called a friend.

* * *

 

The humid tunnel made it difficult to breathe, she wanted to stop but it was not an option. She pushed through despite the burning feeling in her lungs, her rapid  steps and heavy breathing echoing off the walls, the stench of burning wood fading. She finally spots the ladder and climbs up, using the remainder of her strength to lift weighty cover, dirt falling onto her hair from above. 

Ascending into the jungle above, she ducked within the thicket making sure there were no threats nearby. Behind her, she watched a bright orange glow in the sky, the all-consuming fire that took over her family’s ranch, possibly the entire village by now. She had prepared for this dozens of times before, practicing the route, self-defense, how to wield and shoot a gun, how to effectively disappear from the world; none of that taught her how to survive the feeling of loneliness, of losing her family.

 _Nemesis_  would find good company in her.


End file.
